The Sheep Song ~ Adelaide Festival 2023 Review

Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre, Thu 16 Mar, 2023 A giant bell hanging above the stage draws our attention before the play begins. A red-hooded but otherwise naked man strikes the bell, and the curtain lifts to reveal something I never thought I’d see in the theatre – a herd of a dozen or so live sheep grazing mindlessly on stage. Some giggles from the audience, but after a while it becomes apparent that one of the sheep apparently wants something more than being part of the herd. This sheep is soon standing on hind legs. That is, not actually a real sheep, but a human dressed in a brilliantly designed costume. But the costume is so good, the face mask so expressive, that we take him to our hearts and follow his journey. The stage then becomes a conveyor belt on which most of the action takes place. A dramatic device allowing our hero an opportunity to observe humanity and attempt to join in. Busy people seemingly on their way to work is perhaps an obvious example, but other examples of human experience pass by in quick succession. A Punch’n’Judy-type puppet show depicting erotic fixation, a matador dons a bull mask only to be stabbed with arrows, a dead child in a specimen jar, our hero scaling city skyscrapers King Kong-style. Extreme images perhaps, and full of iconic references from medieval to modern times, but definitely memorable. Given the title, there needs to be music, and in this case the music is generally provided by a lone banjo player who remains on stage throughout. At one stage our hero even tries to play a banjo, such is his misguided enthusiasm for becoming human. Eventually our hero undergoes an operation to remove his sheepskin and transform to a human one. The transition is not a happy experience. What he learns about being human leads him to want to return to his original herd. Because the messages of this performance are not explained in words but expressed visually there is much to think about afterwards. The richness of imagery deftly manages to evoke a full range of human emotions and experiences – happiness, beauty, desire, laughter, cruelty, trauma, ugliness, disappointment. Some big questions to think about, as well as the trivial - How did they get the dog to bark on cue? Why were only the humans allowed to take a bow at the end? The Sheep Song is a truly memorable piece of theatre. 4.5 stars Adrian Miller #ClotheslineMag